Carol 'Teddy' Peterson devoted to GOP, Episcopal Church

By Sara K. Smith :
July 20, 2012
: Updated: July 20, 2012 10:04pm

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Carol “Teddy” Peterson

Born: Oct. 2, 1934, Waxahachie

Died: July 18, 2012, San Antonio

Survived by: Her husband, Thomas H. Peterson; sons, John Thomas Peterson and wife Tammy of Cedar Park, and Christopher David Peterson and wife Tina of San Antonio; daughter, Carol Dupree Peterson of Pflugerville; eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild; and a brother, Robert “Tony” David McGee.

However, her love of politics did not supersede her devotion to the Episcopal Church after she joined in 1955.

“She was a Christian first and then a patriot,” Thomas Peterson said.

Peterson poured all her spare time into volunteering for St. Francis Episcopal Church, he said, and whenever someone needed a hand, she was available.

“She was always the most gracious, cooperative joy to be around,” said Doris Read, who became friends with Peterson when Read was a secretary at St. Francis.

Peterson went to the University of Texas at Austin and was in journalism school when she met her husband in 1954. She was swept away, and they married in 1955 in her hometown of Waxahachie.

“She always used to say a man chases a woman until she catches him, and that's kind of the way it was,” her husband said, adding that she was a sharp woman who would constantly outdebate him.

She began volunteering for political campaigns in El Paso a few years after they were married, inspired by her father's service as Ellis County Republican Party chairman. The couple moved to San Antonio in 1963 and she remained dedicated to Bexar County politics the rest of her life.

Reading Tom Clancy novels and doing needlepoint occupied her leisure time. One of her needlepoint pieces depicting St. Francis hangs in the church. She also loved the ocean, a pleasure she indulged in while taking cruises with her husband, who said she enjoyed one last swim a year ago.

Thomas Peterson said it was a privilege to be married to Teddy for 56 years.

“We were hoping to make at least 60, but we didn't quite clear the bar,” he said.